Boar hunting with 5.56?

[britishtq]

Is it possible? And is it cruel to use that round as opposed to 300 blackout?

Other than the fact I'm killing pork I wanna be kosher lol.

[SeriousStudent]

Moved to appropriate Hunting subforum.

[Mjolnir]

I'd say "use something bigger and more powerful than 5.56/.223."


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"One cannot awaken a man who pretends to be asleep."

[LMT Shooter]

I don't have a lot of experience, but I've done it a few times. .223 will get the job done, with proper load selection and shot placement, on hogs under 200lbs, and I broke out the .223 when I realized that over 90% of the hogs where I hunt are under, well under, 200lbs. I use bonded SP's & think solid copper HP's ought to work.

I freely admit that my choice of .223 WILL bite me in the arse when I get a big pig in range.

[user]

I've killed a bunch a hogs over the years with ar's. 70 grain TSX works exceptionally. No problems for me.

[ace4059]

I havent had the best of luck with the 5.56 with pigs. It kills them but I have to shoot each one several times. I was using the MK 262. I'm am going to have to try a different bullet and see how that works.

But from my limited experience, the 300 Blackout has a lot more stopping power. The 300 BLK was a one shot stop/drop on the hog while the 5.56 has been a pop them till they drop experience and sometimes it takes 5 or 7 shots to kill them with the 5.56.

I'm starting to have my doubts with the 5.56.

[Scoby]

Check out this thread.

Bullet selection and placement is everything.


https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=94628

[mastiffhound]

Thousands of people use 5.56/.223 for wild boar. They are considered pest animals in most cases, like prairie dogs or rats. They destroy hundreds of thousands of acres of crops every year. It depends on what you are comfortable with and how accurate you are (shot placement) with your rifle. People use anything from 55 gr FMJ to 77 gr SMK.

I've seen people use .22LR for hog hunting, something that I've never considered doing myself. If it's possible to kill hogs with a .22LR then 5.56/.223 55 gr will be as powerful as .22LR at the muzzle out to 600 yards and much more powerful than that at shorter ranges. It's all based on your comfort and skill level. Many companies offer products geared towards hog hunting with .223 like the Savage model 11 Hog Hunter or Leupold Hog scopes so it must be acceptable in the industry and among most hunters.

[Shiz]

.223 is a great round for boar.

at 550-600y. M193 has closer to the energy of a 9mm. Even more than a 22lr.

[Watrdawg]

No problems what so ever with .223/5.56 on hogs. 70gr TSX will take care of them all day long.

[sierra 223]

With the right bullet choice and good bullet placement it works just fine.

[britishtq]

Thanks a lot guys, looks like I'm going boar hunting with a ddm4 lol.

[Redbeardsong]

As others already said, lots of people use 5.56 for pigs. 300BLK is better, but the Barnes VorTx ammo works well.

[matemike]

I've killed them with 5.56, 300 blackout, AND 300 whisper.

I've' also had some run away after being smacked with 5.56 in the shoulder.

Plus, I have a story from the other night:
Hogs have been tearing up mine and my neighbors lawns, fields and gardens. So I randomly took a stoll with my carbine late one night. I stepped into an area they've been tearing up and quickly shined my x300 across the field. I shot a 150 lb sow with 300 blackout (190gr subsonic suppressed) right in the neck/shoulder area from 40 yards away. Needless to say, it was a quick shot. Anyways she fell right over. Her accompanying babies scattered. I scanned the field a little more and eventually walked up to the fallen sow. I stretched her out and even examined her tusks. I then heard some russling in the nearby bushes; it had to be the babies! So I went after them. No success. Ten minutes later when I came back, the sow was gone, disappeared, left, absent..like a friggin magic trick. Go figure...

[J-Dub]

Nope, gotta have a 375 H&H or 416 Rigby.....haven't you heard? They're made of Kevlar.......

[MackUSCG]

Here in SE Georgia we typically don't get a shot over 50 yards unless you are hunting a food plot or small field. I've shot most of mine out of my ladder stand at 50 yards and under. I dialed my RRA in at 50 yards (Nikon BDC P-223 Carbine) with Hornady v-Max 55gr and it dumps them! Especially with head shots. I've heard of people dusting hogs with .22 mags and .17 HMR. You just have to pop em in the head. As far as deer go I've dumped deer with the same ammo as well. Shot placement is everything.

[matemike]

Here in SE Georgia we typically don't get a shot over 50 yards unless you are hunting a food plot or small field. I've shot most of mine out of my ladder stand at 50 yards and under. I dialed my RRA in at 50 yards (Nikon BDC P-223 Carbine) with Hornady v-Max 55gr and it dumps them! Especially with head shots. I've heard of people dusting hogs with .22 mags and .17 HMR. You just have to pop em in the head. As far as deer go I've dumped deer with the same ammo as well. Shot placement is everything.

Many on here will shame you for head shots.

I for one have seen several deers and hogs live after a head shot. Often it'll only blow off their nose, ears, lower jaws or even eye balls.

I shot a doe once with a 7mm Rem Mag in the back of her head. We found her entire snout, an ear and huge chunks of her lower jaw with several teeth still in place. Three days later that deer was captured on a trail camera, looking ill, skinny and like she was in a lot of pain. I felt terrible.

A couple years ago a friend of mine shot a 25 pound hog with a 22lr in the face. The next weekend I went back and found the little piggie in the shed, alive, breathing like it had a terrible case of asthma. It's upper portion of it's snout was missing all the way up to it's eyes. You could see the animals tongue it what remained of it's lower jaw. It was gangreen and had maggots living in it's snout now. The pig could not possibly eat. Starving. I kindly put it out if it's missery.

Please don't rely on head shots. I know there is the possibility of only wounding an animal with a shoulder or center mass shot as well. But if you miss by an inch you still have a great chance of harvesting the animal with body shots. If you bearily miss your mark on a head shot, it can be disgusting and mean. It's just terrible to see and know the aftermath of a slightly off target head shot.

[tappedandtagged]

I've killed plenty of hogs with my AR. Most have been one shot kills on up to 200 lbs hogs. I use hand loaded 65 grain Sierra Game King.

[scoutchris]

I just read an article in some gun magazine on hog hunting while I was on an airplane. The author had a neat hypothesis. He said he observed numerous times people choosing larger and larger calibers to shoot pigs with, and surprisingly, they almost had LESS of in "impact" on the animal. He said he watched a hog take 5 12G slugs before dropping, but would see them routinely drop with 5.56. His hypothesis is an interesting one. He raised the possibility of that densely packed hog meat is more susceptible to hydrostatic shock than to brute force. The thick dense animal "catches" the slower moving more heavy round, and if it isn't placed correctly, moves on. The faster 5.56 zips through it, and the hydrostatic shock destroys the tissue in a greater manner as it passes.

I've never hunted hogs, in fact I just made a thread/plea to be taken hog hunting somewhere, just relaying what I've read, and talking out of my ass.